The latest on the Southern California City of Bell probably won't surprise anyone. "The scandal-plagued city of Bell mismanaged more than $50 million in bond money, levied illegal taxes and paid exorbitant salaries to its leaders, according to a state audit released Wednesday..."

Not that this should be a surprise from Bell, California...
A memo titled the "Bell Police Department Baseball Game," assigns "singles," "doubles," "triples" and "home runs" to increasingly more serious infractions, starting with parking tickets and moving on to vehicle impounds and felony arrests of drivers. Police officers competed to issue tickets, impound cars and arrest motorists.

"nstead of declaring bankruptcy, Maywood officials decided to outsource all city functions. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will patrol the streets, while the neighboring city of Bell will cover other city functions, such as staffing City Hall.

Maywood already relies on contract workers and outsources many city services. The director of parks and recreation, for instance, is a contractor, and the city's lights, landscaping and street sweeping are handled by private companies. Los Angeles County maintains the library and fire department."

So when the police sergeant in this photo gave the heave-ho to dozens of bell-ringing Mexican ice cream vendors during yesterday's San Francisco Symphony event at Dolores Park -- bell-ringing and classical music do not a mixture make -- he felt compelled to turn his attention upon the cherubic kiddies hawking lemonade and brownies...

When police shootings end badly, it can often cause citizens to mistrust the cops who are supposed to protect them. From the mayor of New Orleans calling in the feds to investigate that city's troubled police department, to the city of New York settling with the family of Sean Bell for more than $7 million, communities are growing increasingly weary of law and disorder. A.C.

At the GOP debate Tuesday night, Ron Paul, the longest-serving advocate of a Fed audit in Congress, asked Herman Cain, a former director of the Kansas City Fed, why he opposed an audit of the central bank, and why he called advocates of such an audit ignorant

In Orange County, California, the city is suing a couple who replaced their front lawn with wood chips to save water. Article includes great quotes like:
“Compliance -- that’s all we’ve ever wanted,” explained City Atty. Wayne Winthers.
“It’s just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,” Quan Ha said.

In 2011, the city of Philadelphia paid out $13 million to people alleging harm from police, largely to alleged victims of excessive use of force. Critics say that the city lacks meaningful oversight of police misconduct and, instead of trying to prevent it, treats payments due to the behavior like a cost of doing business. The city, however, doesn’t see a problem, contending that recession-weary Philadelphians and greedy lawyers are suing the city for a paycheck.